The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi
by Inari Kasugawa
Summary: This is the story of a young, unremarkable shinobi in a very remarkable world, the establishment of bonds and the trials that test them.


"Lord Hokage!" A flustered jonin called as he rushed into the theater chamber of the Hokage. He paused, momentarily out of breath "Ah? What is it? Naruto again?" There was a level of familiarity in his voice, as though hearing that once again there was a ruckus being kicked up came as no great surprise to him. "Not just him, but his mother as well!" At that, Minato put down his paperwork and looked at the jonin. "Well, I should think that she has everything under control." In truth, Minato just knew better than to get in the path of his wife, and he knew that she would have a better time of it. Minato reclined into his chair, thinking about how he was just too kind on their son. 'Good luck Naruto...'

The scene was taking place at the Hokage Monument meanwhile was one of building chaos, Kushina splitting her attention between her son and the other people yelling at him. For every shout up at her son as often as reminding the other's gathered, rather violently, that only she as his mother had any place in chastising the vandal. Many of them took her word and only watched silently as she and Naruto's teacher tried to mend the situation. "Naruto when I catch you, you will be in so much trouble!" At the time, Naruto was looking for a way he might escape both his mother and the crowd, though to little avail; his own abilities as a shinobi were negligible. He also failed to notice that there was a fray developing in the rope, just too high and tucked away for him to see. "Everyone should see what a fearless ninja I am! I don't need their fancy jutsus to be a great ninja! They all wish they were brave enough to do something like this!" It was in the middle of his crowing that the rope decided to finally give out. With a cry, Naruto realized he was falling and came barreling to the ground. Kushina, despite a fluttering of panic seeing her child falling, flung a nearby ninja to catch her son, and with a crash, Naruto fell headlong into his academy teacher, Iruka. Because the majority of the damage was taken by his teacher, Naruto was up in a moment and sprinting away, his mother on his heels.

Naruto thought he had finally lost his mother, though it was close, with a sly turn and a willingness to hide in garbage, and he slowed down to a jog, turning a corner and smacking straight into his father's chest. "Oww... Oh!" Naruto was about to sprint off again, but his father caught him by his jacket, hauling him off the ground much like a cat with it's young. "Aw man! Dad how did you get here so fast?" Naruto flailed as Minato pointed out a tag on the wall nearby, one of his space-time transportation tags. "Naruto, you know I can't just overlook this..." There was a crash and a scream as Kushina rounded the corner, knocking into the both of them, the whole family ending up in a heap on the ground. "Naruto you are in big troub- Minato?" She looked surprised for a moment, because while she thought she had pinned her son, it turned out to be her husband, and while the look on Kushina's face was one of motherly fury, Minato's expression was nonplussed, perhaps even a bit proud; Naruto had disappeared again. Frustrated, Kushina punched the ground, the pavement giving way beneath her fist. "Wait hey!" Minato begged, quickly standing the both of them upright. "You know, I think I know exactly where he's gone running off to." Kushina thought for a moment and smiled knowingly and kissed her husband as reward. "Yeah, I know where he's gotten to. Don't be late for dinner Minato." She said as she waved goodbye, turning to the south gate of the village, along the Naka river.

"Sasuke! Let me in!" Naruto banged on the front door, pulling it open slightly and without a care about seeming rude. He looked over his shoulder, constantly on the look out for his mother's figure in the distance. "Sasukeeeeeee." He was about to edge himself into the house when the door slid open. "Naruto," said a familiar voice, "what are you doing here?" Itachi let Naruto in the house, yawning lightly and rubbing his eyes, looking around outside before he shut the door. "What did you do this time?" Naruto laughed, guilt evident in the sound, and Itachi frowned disapprovingly until another voice sounded from the house. "Big brother, is that Naruto?" The change in Itachi's demeanor was immediate, from somewhat sleepy to incredible attentiveness, and Naruto felt a small pang of jealousy that he didn't have a big brother like Itachi. "It is, should I bring out something to eat?" It was almost funny to Naruto how huffy Sasuke could be when Itachi babied him, but Naruto, and probably everyone else, knew that Sasuke loved having a brother as well thought of as him. "I don't know, I thought I saw Mrs. Uzumaki walking down the street," then, turning to Naruto with a condescending grin he asked "you didn't actually do it, did you?" Naruto preened. "Of course I did! You don't think the son of the great Fourth Hokage would back down from a challenge like that, right?" Sasuke just looked at Naruto, but it was Itachi who actually spoke, a tray of savory rice crackers in his hands. "We'll find you a new best friend Sasuke, it will be alright." Sasuke and Itachi sat down and began to munch on the rice crackers, but Naruto could only nibble at one, knowing that his mother was probably just around the corner, maybe had run into Mikoto, Sasuke and Itachi's mother, on the way to pick him up.

He didn't have to wait long, there was soon a knock on the door and Itachi went to answer. She waited for Naruto in the entrance hall and Naruto, escorted by Sasuke, went to meet her. Kushina was all politeness, and her lack of anger made Naruto even more nervous, even as she asked Sasuke how he was, how he liked his classes at the academy. Practically sweating bullets, Naruto put his shoes on, silent, knowing that there would be no chance for escape this time. Mikoto was in fact with her, and went right to the kitchen, taking whatever knowledge she had of Naruto's fate with her. With one last pleading look behind him, Naruto began the walk home with his mother. She was quiet, but smiling, and that only made Naruto more nervous. 'What could she be planning? Drowning me in the river? Feeding me to the Inuzuka dogs?' Naruto worried himself and worried himself and when Kushina finally spoke, he nearly jumped out of his skin. "When I was your age, I would have done the same thing. Huge pranks like that, you probably get that from me." She smiled and stopped walking, kneeling down a bit to hug her son. "Of course, I'm still mad that you put yourself in so much danger to do it, but that's just because I'm your mother. And you'll have to clean it all up yourself." Naruto trembled slightly, a reproached twelve year old despite his earlier bravado. Kushina took the goggles off of Naruto's head and kissed his hair, the soft gesture calming her anxious son. "But that's what happens when you get caught." She took his hand and he let her, unashamed. "Mom, why aren't we going home?" Naruto noted the change in their path and he was suddenly struck with the fear that she would make him start cleaning now. "We're going to meet your father for dinner." She said, and Naruto soon understood, seeing as he did that they were heading towards his favorite ramen stand.


End file.
